Ian MacKenzie-Thurley is the executive director of the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton.

Ian MacKenzie-Thurley is the executive director of the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton.

Provided/Ian MacKenzie-Thurley

"It was Hamilton," he said.

He nods because there is nothing else to say.

MacKenzie-Thurley, the executive director of the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, has lived in London and Wales. He met his wife in the Czech Republic at a theater near the Polish border.

The 43-year-old Australian native first visited Hamilton in 2000. A shrug is all he can muster when asked about his initial impressions.

“If I’m being honest, this is not the city I thought I would end up in," he said. "But it's also not the same city it was back then."

Ian MacKenzie-Thurley stands outside the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton. He has been ...more

Ian MacKenzie-Thurley stands outside the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton. He has been the executive director since 2015.

Provided/Ian MacKenzie-Thurley

Joshua Smith had never heard of Hamilton when he got a call about a vacant city manager position there.

He'd never been to Ohio, either. Then, he remembered a flight out of CVG.

"That's in Kentucky," he was told.

Sitting at an old door-turned table at True West Coffee on High Street, Smith points out the window to a building across the street. It was boarded up when he first took the job in 2010.

A block away, the vacant 167,000 square feet Elder Beerman department store sat empty for about five years. In 2012, the city's two paper mills closed – a stark reminder this place wasn't what it once was.

High Street at Second Street, looking east, in Hamilton, Ohio.

High Street at Second Street, looking east, in Hamilton, Ohio.

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"It was hard to be positive the first two years," Smith said.

That is why the first thing he says about MacKenzie-Thurley, and repeats several times later, is he has contagious energy.

Hamilton in 2000 might only get a shrug, but Hamilton in 2017 gets a 15-minute monologue.

And that is why when the city was wooing real estate developer Jim Cohen, they brought him to meet MacKenzie-Thurley. Months later, Cohen would call him a "modern Hamilton hero" and the city's "No. 1 ambassador."

Jim Cohen, president of CMC, overlooks a development project in Loveland in 2015.

Jim Cohen, president of CMC, overlooks a development project in Loveland in 2015.

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Why Hamilton?

In MacKenzie-Thurley's office on the second floor of the Fitton Center for Creative Arts is a black and gray computer bag. It's one of the few things he brought with him on what began as a three-month vacation in 2013.

His wife, Kelly, was born in Hamilton. Her parents still live here. He thought that trip would be like many of the summer visits the family had made since 2000.

Ian MacKenzie-Thurley and his wife, Kelly, and their daughter, Lily, stand out the Potter Stewart ...more

Ian MacKenzie-Thurley and his wife, Kelly, and their daughter, Lily, stand out the Potter Stewart United States Courthouse where Ian received his citizenship.

Provided/Ian MacKenzie-Thurley

MacKenzie-Thurley remembers getting temporary passes at the local YMCA because he didn't want to pay the joining fee.

Then, his wife told him she wanted to stay. Their daughter learned to swim there.

MacKenzie-Thurley began working for his green card and volunteered around the city – because he didn't have a work visa. This time around, he could feel an energy that matched his own.

It's not something he can explain. When he tries, he ends up talking in circles for 30 minutes. Eventually, he ends up here:

"This is the most interesting work I've ever done," he said.

Not because of what he is doing, but because of where he is doing it.

Ian MacKenzie-Thurley and his wife and daughter at Disney this year.

Ian MacKenzie-Thurley and his wife and daughter at Disney this year.

Provided/Ian MacKenzie-Thurley

There are 99 spots in the Fitton Center's parking lot. On a hot and sunny Wednesday in July, they are nearly all taken.

Before MacKenzie-Thurley took over, the center didn't operate during much of the summer. On this day, weeks before their season launch, he talks about handrails in the theater wearing out.

He looks out into the parking lot and greets people walking in. Sweat pools on his forehead.

"It's yoga night," he says.

He pushes his sunglasses back on top of his head, smiles and walks back inside.